September 2001
Bureaucracy, Finance, Legal, Media, Police, Politics Sean Bowden continues to be a controversial figure, seemingly unfazed by the enemies he seems to be making in the city. Both business and industrial figures are blaming his new taxation policies for the downturn of financial prosperity in the city and now fear that the continued targeting of them as a group will lead to a downsizing of industry and related job cuts. Meanwhile, Bowden continues to push the courts to release details regarding the proposed changes to Castelan’s powers, despite objections from both Castelan and surrounding police forces, who state that such actions will lead to a number of possible security issues. Bureaucracy, Finance, Industry, Legal, Media, Politics Share prices continue to fluctuate, with the continued questioning of whether the city is conducive to business or not whilst Sean Bowden is in office. The required funding for a number of high profile public projects continues to increase levels of taxation on business. MCC continue to ask for money owed for the completion of the Hartshill Development Project, stating that such a deficit in profits will inevitably lead to job cuts if the business is to remain afloat. In return, Bowden claims that this is just scare mongering by the company and that the companies other investments will minimise any damage. Industry, Legal, Politics, Underworld Once again local unions seems to be in difficulty, with members employed by certain companies siding with Bowden, who they see has advocating workers rights, whilst others are siding with industry leaders over the fear of job cuts. With levels of confusion surrounding both subjects high in the city at the moment, especially after the resignations of long established council members in protest of Bowden’s implemented schemes, unions are still unsure as to who Bowden is actually siding with. All this talk of workers rights and increases in spending on public projects is good, but of little use if no companies can afford to be in the area. Bureaucracy, Legal, Media, Police, Politics Sean Bowden as renewed attacks against the perceived heavy handed approach undertaken by Castelan, promising to leak details to the public of their new powers of arrest if they are not released. In return, Castelan are using the recent actions of anarchists in the city as an example of the need for constant vigilance and that releasing details of their operations would in fact lead to greater acts of lawlessness against the city’s inhabitants. Finance, High Society Industry, Media, Politics Some of the shine seems to be wearing of Sean Bowden, with many of the city’s movers and shakers beginning to feel the pinch due to the taxation of their businesses. Then again it could just be the summer; with many people on holiday abroad there is less going on than during the cooler, winter months. However, some may be making a point by not inviting Mr. Bowden to any of the upcoming balls. Finance, Health, Industry, Legal, Politics, University With financing for the Hartshill Development project continuing to be withheld some three months after the completion of the project, plans for the city’s “Health Campus” may be put on hold whilst the search for a contractor continues. Understandably many groups are reluctant to become involved in the project without assurance that all money will be paid. Any delays to the plans however will be costly as the cities ageing health infrastructure continues to drain the public purse with high maintenance costs. Health, Media, Police, University With less than a month till the start of the new academic year, stringent disinfecting of the city’s campuses continues ahead of the returning students. The process is at the insistence of local authorities that all students return home for the last month of the summer to facilitate the cleaning of all privately owned student properties as well. There have been no new cases of the virulent strain of influenza reported for the last two months and all parties involved hope that the problem has been successfully dealt with. Police, Street, Underworld Despite the public announcement made by a group connected to anti-globalisation claiming responsibility for last months bombings, Castelan have begun to clamp down on all parties involved in the ongoing gang-war. Castelan stated that the city would not play host to any that believe that the bombing of innocent people can be justified. Witnesses continue to be sought in connection with the blasts, which left over seventy dead and hundreds injured, with several leads being followed. Both parties in the gang war have curtailed their actions after the incidents, not wishing to be caught up in the matter. Police Castelan apparently have a positive identity for the “Phantom Highwayman” and have been in contact with a number of organisations before they take any action against the individual in question. Castelan were supposedly tipped off that the individual in question visits the city at least once a month, but this remains pure speculation. Church, Occult Where exactly has Nicholas Raymond gone? After his numerous public appearances in the city, his ability to hold crowds in his sway and his subsequent investigation by a number of churches, his disappearance does not bode well. If such a public member of the church is allowed to go missing, then it usually means that they are up to something, but if he’s not around to ask it may be a while before people are able to find out what? Legal, Media, Police, Politics, Street, Transport, Underworld Following the success of Castelan’s scheme to combat gun related crime, the local police force has instigated a similar scheme this week, again utilising dawn raids to make a number of arrests and seizures of properties. In all, both groups hope to have reduced the number of illegally held weapons in the county in half. Meanwhile, Castelan continue to work in conjunction with a number of transportation groups in an attempt to continue to curtail the movement of illegal weapons, especially in light of the recent terrorist activities that left over seventy dead. Church, Media, Police, Politics Church groups and politicians have praised the actions of Castelan with regards to the recent race riots in the area for not causing further problems with heavy-handed tactics against the rioters. Instead, Castelan entered the affected areas following the rioting to talk with community leaders about measures that could be taken to prevent further unrest. In addition a number of members of far right groups in the area were targeted after it emerged that a number of them were breaking parole. Both Castelan and the heads of the various ethnic communities at the heart of the disturbances hope that any future demonstrations will pass peacefully. Street, Underworld Neither the Gambino’s nor Sandernacht were responsible for the bomb blasts, but neither were any anarchist-linked groups in the city. In fact as far as people can tell, there aren’t any anarchist groups active in the city at the moment. Street, Underworld Despite the recent attentions of Castelan, Sandernacht seems to be winning the local gang war, at least on a pure street for street level, having managed to successfully drive the Gambino’s into the north of the city. However, more disturbing rumours hint that the Gambino’s still have a number of surprises up their sleeves and that the war is far from over, especially if rumours of a second, connected group trying to establish to the south of the city are to be believed. Bureaucracy, Finance, High Society, Industry, Media, Police, Politics Profits for the Phoenix Project are down this month after the recent terrorist attacks left many wondering how long it is before such high profile areas are targeted. Spending on leisure has fallen across the city and industry insiders speculate that it may be some time before confidence in safety in the city’s clubs returns. Meanwhile, the manner in which the project continues to be funded is still being discussed. Public/ Private Partnerships were discussed as an alternative method of funding to PFI. Occult Since it has become clear that something unusual is either trying to get into the city or prevent others from getting in, rumours of a number of groups setting up on the outskirts of the city are a topic of serious discussion. Stoke, once “A Mecca of Weirdness” has been quiet of late, but these things have an alarming tendency to be the calm before the storm. Church, Occult The whereabouts of Nicholas Raymond are well known to the church, but a number of long forgotten Catholic Tenants have been used to make sure that the information doesn’t get into the wrong hands. It’s well known now that Raymond has a number of quite powerful enemies in the city, many of whom are keen for him to go away. Rumours continue to grow that he may actually be “the genuine article” in a number of congregations. Finance, Media, Police, Politics How the recent anarchist / terrorist acts will affect local business remains to be seen, as does the reason why they chose to attack Stoke, given its proximity to both Manchester and Birmingham? Indeed, the entire choice of action makes little sense, with most anarchist groups seeking to target globally based business and financial institutions rather than members of the public, an aspect that is more damaging to their cause. Polls taken after the blasts show a drop on support for the basic tenets of what the protestors were fighting for in Genoa. Castelan have once again started to investigate a number of far-left political groups in the area in the aftermath of the blasts. Street, Underworld The Gambino’s have not been employing far right groups as previously suspected, but background does remain an issue within the group, with it being made clear that certain people are not welcome. However, a stranger note seems to be that no single ethnic group has dominance in the family, which is unusual for such an old-fashioned crime syndicate. Maybe the Gambino’s just realised they weren’t going to win the war based on ideals and are willing to accept help from any group that’s willing to offer it. Bureaucracy, Finance, Health, Media, Politics Work has begun on the construction of new sewer systems for parts of the city, concentrating on those areas worst affected by the lack of money spent on refurbishment over the last few years. It is hoped to have the new system fully in place by the end of the next year, although specialists point out that this timeline is dependant on both the current physical and political climates. Finance, Underworld Checks on the means by which individuals finance themselves are becoming less frequent in the area, with Castelan reputedly not having a dedicated fraud squad. If this were true, then the opportunities to hide cash amongst local businesses would appear to be rife, unless this is a ruse by Castelan to increase their arrest record even further. Health, Police, Industry The so-called stranger sightings are down, with the “group” as it were apparently making more of an effort to hide their presence than on previous occasions. Both local industries and the health authority have begun to work together in an effort to try and trace the individuals in question, but so far have been able to produce few leads, despite help from Castelan. Bureaucracy, Finance, Legal, Media, Police, Politics, Transport New measures to prevent the movement of suspected terrorists through the city have been quickly introduced in the wake of the four blasts that devastated the city last month. Both Castelan and the local council have put aside recent differences to push through a series of tough measures hoped to prevent such actions happening again in the city, making it well known publicly that such action will not be tolerated. Meanwhile the cleanup continues, with through traffic restored to both rail and road links in the city, although still on a limited basis. Occult Many people in the know are worried, as it seems that at the moment that the bomb blasts went off “something” in the city smiled. No one’s quite sure what, but whatever it was it was unpleasant. Finance, High Society, Industry, Legal, Media, Politics, Transport With the targeting of both high speed transportation and the leisure industry within the city, the number of visitors dropped significantly last month further fuelling speculation of an overall downward financial trend. Insiders fear that funding to repair the damage may not be forthcoming, with local government coffers currently diverted into defending against legal action from MCC, causing further panic on the local market. Whilst the initial question seems to be why Stoke was targeted by anti-capitalist demonstrators, the answer may be that destabilising the economy of a small city, especially one which holds a large number of commuters may, may have a knock on effect in the surrounding area. Police, Street, Underworld Given that such a large amount of explosives would have been needed to create the explosions last month it seems unusual that none of the usual suppliers seemed to have done recent dealings. Castelan have reported little in the way of confiscated goods coming into the area over the last few months. Given this fact, it can only be presumed that the contraband was already present in the city. Still, it seems unusual that no one noticed, especially given how strict Castelan have been about arms related issues of late.